Google tails Skype with call service

Google said it will allow users to make free or deeply discounted calls right from Gmail to regular phones, ramping up the competition with Skype and similar services.

Gmail users will see the service pop up in their chat lists as a "call phone" option, the company said in a blog posting yesterday. A telephone dialer will appear on the screen, and users can either dial a number or enter a contact's name.

Until now, Google's voice and video chat service required both people to be at their PCs and signed into Gmail at the same time. The new feature lets users call phones -- landlines and cell phones -- from inside Gmail.

Google said calls in the US and Canada will be free until the end of the year, while calls to foreign countries will start at two cents per minute.

"We've found it useful in a lot of situations, ranging from making a quick call to a restaurant, to placing a call when you're in an area with bad reception," Google wrote on its blog.

The move positions Google as a direct competitor to Skype, which earlier this month said it plans to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.

at rates of $0.23 between USA and some African destinations, the news is hardly something to cheer.

the news piece states that the move aims at competing with Skype, needless to say, offering competitor's applications on their android phones would be counterintuitive, they want you to use google's!

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On this matter, rates might be the greatest determinant for your appreciation on what Google have come up with. However, there are some, like myself who would appreciate the functionality and be jubilant from added convenience this feature offers to Gtalk.